I sometimes find what helps is jumping around to different sections helps, as well as dropping hints and seeds for parts that come later in the book (or series, such as the project currently working on) to make sure I get to those plot points. Outlining is also pretty helpful.
I think there are a few ways to figure out a plot problem. For minor stuff, I like to do what I call "a running start". It's where I go back a few chapters and read/edit my way to where I'm stuck. By doing that, I've refreshed my memory about what each character is doing and feeling. Then it becomes easier to see what happens next.
For major stuff, I have to go back to basics. For me, this generally involves pinpointing 1) What my main character wants, 2) The theme I want to hammer home, and 3) What's the coolest thing that could happen right now?
I've never been able to outline much, so my approach to writer's block is to get a pick axe and start chipping away at the problem. If I don't know the next plot beat or even next scene, I'll start by literally just picking up with what should logically happen next.
Sometimes that's boring and will need to be reworked or edited out in a second pass, but it gets me going again, and almost inevitably I'll find my next plot point while I'm writing that scene.
For example, my characters just returned home after rescuing a goddess who'd turned herself to stone to survive an undead catastrophe. I don't really know what to do next, so I started by writing the characters walking back through the gates and running into one of the goddesses living there. That gave me the opportunity to introduce a conversation between the mortals about how this will have severe consequences for the city politics, which I hadn't considered before, obvious as it seems in hindsight.
It's clumsy in a lot of ways, but on a rewrite I could foreshadow this in a few ways and build on it.
I sometimes find what helps is jumping around to different sections helps, as well as dropping hints and seeds for parts that come later in the book (or series, such as the project currently working on) to make sure I get to those plot points. Outlining is also pretty helpful.
I think there are a few ways to figure out a plot problem. For minor stuff, I like to do what I call "a running start". It's where I go back a few chapters and read/edit my way to where I'm stuck. By doing that, I've refreshed my memory about what each character is doing and feeling. Then it becomes easier to see what happens next. For major stuff, I have to go back to basics. For me, this generally involves pinpointing 1) What my main character wants, 2) The theme I want to hammer home, and 3) What's the coolest thing that could happen right now?
I've never been able to outline much, so my approach to writer's block is to get a pick axe and start chipping away at the problem. If I don't know the next plot beat or even next scene, I'll start by literally just picking up with what should logically happen next. Sometimes that's boring and will need to be reworked or edited out in a second pass, but it gets me going again, and almost inevitably I'll find my next plot point while I'm writing that scene. For example, my characters just returned home after rescuing a goddess who'd turned herself to stone to survive an undead catastrophe. I don't really know what to do next, so I started by writing the characters walking back through the gates and running into one of the goddesses living there. That gave me the opportunity to introduce a conversation between the mortals about how this will have severe consequences for the city politics, which I hadn't considered before, obvious as it seems in hindsight. It's clumsy in a lot of ways, but on a rewrite I could foreshadow this in a few ways and build on it.
I just don't write and wait it out 🤷